


Far Too Young to Die

by Dusty_Forgotten



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M, Inspired by Music, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 08:04:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2060400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusty_Forgotten/pseuds/Dusty_Forgotten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I never really thought that you'd come tonight, while the crown hangs heavy on either side. Give me one last kiss for the far too young to die. We're far too young to die."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Far Too Young to Die

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel of sorts to [Broken Lovers with the Poison Cup](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1187451)
> 
> [Far Too Young to Die by Panic! At the Disco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy2NeryrfBA)

She gives the message to Johnson Nash, and he gives it to every courier he knows. Everyone from Utah to the west coast has heard it. No one knows what it means, and it’s started a small, if not religiously devoted group of conspiracy theorists. It’s graffitied on walls, and scrawled in old magazines, programmed in every functional robot in the Mojave: _New moon. Where it all began. See you there, Gecko._

There’s three empty bottles of Sunset lined up in front of the Keep Out sign, and she’s sitting next to it, legs dangling over the edge. There’s another, half-full, in her hand. The lamp is still there, next to her empty grave, lit. It’s the only light on the hill- and, in the distance, in her eyes- Vegas is brighter than it was that night.

“You should keep a better eye on your back, pussycat. Someone might shoot you in it.” Benny says, and sits next to her.

Six smiles a little, eyes on the city neither of them own. “ _You_ didn’t.”

“I ain’t a fink.” He takes a cigarette from his pocket- not his usual brand, but he has bigger things to worry about- and fishes for the cheap Zippo for a light. She offers her own, the one with his initials.

“In your own way.” Erin says. The little flame shows the dirt on her face, the dark circles, and the scar above her temple. “You didn’t take as long as I thought you would.”

“I never left Nevada.” he admits with smoke on his breath.

She stuffs the lighter back in her pocket, the beginnings of a smile tugging at her lips. “I didn’t think you would.”

“So why am I here?”

She leans back on her hands, and looks up at the sky. “Long story short, Caesar isn’t all he’s cracked up to be, but Lanius is. I’m nixing them both.”

“Where’s that leave you?”

“With a leader who’s great at taking orders, and hasn’t given one in his life. He never made it to decanus before he got picked for Praetorian.”

“I ain’t got a clue what you’re jawin’ about, baby.”

“You don’t need to.” She glances at him, then takes a sip, and focuses back on the Vegas lights. “Just laying out the plan. The Legion will take the Dam, but they won’t keep it. The rest of the Mojave belongs to Vegas.”

Benny leans his elbows on his knee, twists a bit to look at her. “And who does Vegas belong to?”

“I’d take it, but I’ve got a home, and it ain’t here. So I’m thinking about it, and this guy falls into my lap, genius, megalomaniac. Just like House, less delusional. His name’s Archer,” she says, “Courier Two. Devil in a suit, but he’s a businessman. What’s good for business, is good for Vegas. He’s got everything set, and I just need to let him in the Lucky 38.”

“I’m sure you’ll be very happy together. What’s this got to do with me?”

Erin breathes, deep, says, “You’re a liability,” and tips back what’s left of her soda.

“So, what? The new Not-at-Home sends you to ice me?” Benny takes a drag, lets it out, and can’t help but focus on the lights in the distance. Neither of them can. “Baby, I don’t think you got it in you.”

She sets the now-empty bottle at the end of the line, and flicks it over; they fall like dominos, and roll off the cliff. There’s a satisfying shattering sound when one hits bottom. “I know I don’t. That’s not why I’m here.”

His eyebrows go up, a bit hopefully. “You miss me, pussycat?”

The Courier snickers. “Not quite.” Her gaze turns from Vegas, to him. She’s still smiling. “I’m the distraction.”

It registers on his face just as the shot of plasma burns a hole through his back. Archer swings the rifle over his shoulder, and climbs down from the water tower while Erin grabs Benny’s chin, makes him look her in the eye.

The worst part of plasma is that it cauterizes every wound it makes; people killed with plasma die from missing organs, not hemorrhaging. It’s slower. “I wanted to say something cheesy and kinda poetic, but really, I’m just glad it’s over.” she says. He’s shaking, can’t breathe with the lower half of his lungs missing, can’t speak for the shock. She kisses him, and pushes him tumbling over the precipice. Glass shatters when he hits bottom.


End file.
